i mean, look, nixon, reagan, george w. bush, republican presidents have learned how to get stuff done at times in the face of congress and sometimes controlled by the other party. you know, this whole notion of the imperial presidency that arose under nixon, not coincidentally, a republican, i think you said it was kind of a tori sensibility. but it's really a concentration of power. >> are they stronger than the democrats and they know what that is? assembly, parliamentary? >> in some ways they have been more skillful and more ruthless in the way that they have moved the levers of power. in washington and outside of washington, to get stuff done. >> joy, i don't think the republicans have a karl rove a. malignant sense of power, i'm going to be the architect and i'm going to rule and they are spreading the money around and trying to get back the power. it does seem almost obsessive, the love of the white house. >> i think eugene robinson is right. for conservatives, the idea of being the cowboy, they like the self-image f